How Hubris Syndrome Affects Your Leadership

Today's dynamic global economy has leaders facing the challenging task of steering their organisations towards success.

The stress from rising competition, resource management, and revenue generation show that leaders have one of the most challenging jobs in the market.

However, there is a dark side to being a leader that many may see as they continue to hold on to power. Leaders who've had massive success for long periods often fall prey to hubris or overconfidence.

We can see hubris syndrome in leaders in many forms. They:

• Blame others when things go wrong, 

• Micromanage their employees thinking no one else can do the job better than them, 

• Ignore feedback and take offence when an employee disagrees, and 

• Disregard organisation values and ethics, assuming it does not apply to them.

These behaviours can be incredibly destructive among the executive-level managers, whose position can lead them to make reckless judgments that can affect the entire organisation.

Hubristic leaders also tend to demoralise and disempower their teams, leading to disengagement and their best employees leaving. 

What Is the Hubris Syndrome?

Hubris syndrome is associated with power. It is more likely to manifest itself the longer the person exercises power and the greater the power they wield.

Leaders with the hubris syndrome display recklessness, inattention to detail, and loss of contact with reality, leading to distorted, impulsive, and bad decisions.

In 2013, Cambridge studied Fortune 500 CEOs and the role of overconfidence in making international mergers and acquisitions over six years.

The research found that hubristic CEOs made high-risk decisions where they offered cash instead of stock to finance mergers and acquisitions with companies outside their core line of business.

Hubristic leaders' overconfidence and hesitation in consulting with their team resulted in poor business strategy and mergers that resulted in significant losses. 

The good news is that hubris is not a personality disorder, but an acquired trait that can still be addressed or changed.

Warning signs of hubris

Whether you are an executive, a high-performing employee, or a manager, you need to watch for signs of hubris in yourself and the team to promote a better work culture.

These are the three warning signs to watch out for:

1. Do you make important decisions independently? 

The most obvious sign of hubris in leaders is the overconfidence in their own judgement. They do not want to listen to advice and rashly make huge decisions without first consulting with their team.

Take a step back and think of how your decisions affect not just you but the whole team. Keep in mind that it's not all about you. Every good leader understands that they don't know everything. They acknowledge what they don't understand and seek advice from those who do. 

Hence, take the time to receive input from partners, board members, or your employees and learn to look at issues from their perspective as well. You will be surprised what the bigger picture looks like from a different perspective.

2. During times of pressure, do you blame others and not take accountability? When bad things happen, do you quickly ask who is responsible?

We know that things don't always go as planned, no matter how much we prepare for the worst. Effective leaders focus on opportunities instead of concentrating on the problem.

On the other hand, hubristic leaders are quick to point out the blame on whoever is responsible. When hubris is in charge, they take too much credit for luck and blame too much when things go wrong. 

The result? They're not learning, and they take bigger and bigger risks over time. 

Leaders are not in it just for themselves; they play a significant role in their team too. Any misses from their team reflects back to them. 

Not taking accountability and overemphasising accountability can lead to missed chances for problem-solving and helping the team grow and become adaptable to these issues in the future.

3. Do you have a team that agrees with you all the time? If your team does not contradict you and your views, you may have a no-bad-news culture.

Many leaders think it is nice to have a 'Yes' team that agrees with everything they say and do, but this harms the work environment where ideas should flow freely, and employees can speak their minds. 

Remember that the highest-paid staff's opinions are worth less than everyone thinks, especially in a complex and rapidly changing world. 

Healthy work culture encourages openness where leaders listen to what their employees have to say. They can also learn from ideas, even if these ideas contradict their own. 

Hubristic leaders also tend to micromanage

Three ways to Overcome the Hubris Syndrome

1. Encourage transparency and constructive feedback

Any company must have a clear vision and know its goals. This way, leaders can easily align themselves with team members on what they want to achieve.

On top of goal-setting and performance reviews, leaders should ask the team for feedback on what they can do to improve and what they need to stop doing.

Via an atmosphere where constructive criticism is encouraged, these leaders will become more self-aware and are on their way to addressing areas where many see has the best growth potential.

Some companies give voices to their staff and promote an environment where they have the means to contact top-level management. 

They can write emails to their CEOs where they can talk about the organisation's pain points and provide feedback on management style.

2. Encourage an anti-hubris culture that promotes openness and humility

Encourage the staff to respect diversity and others' opinions. Welcome disagreement when it's done constructively. Voice out the organisation's openness to new ideas to your staff, so they understand that their voice matters too.

To foster an open workspace, create an environment where every employee is encouraged to take calculated risks and learn from their mistakes.

Embracing risks ensures that your team will never be afraid to present new ideas or discuss growth opportunities.

3. Encourage diversity in the boardroom

Though it may seem logical to have like-minded people in the Board to give their complete support to the CEO, this is counterproductive to Board independence and can promote hubris.

More than the calibre of those in the Board or the executive team, board diversity comes from leaders from different roles, genders, and perspectives that help put hubris in check. It also ensures everyone's voice in the organisation is accurately represented.

More notably, having different viewpoints that weigh in on the potential effects of proposed strategies and policies make for a more efficient risk-assessment and decision-making process.

Self-confidence in leaders is crucial to inspiring and leading a highly talented staff. However, overconfidence, disregarding feedback, and not permitting constructive dissent make for distorted decision-making.

It is time for leaders to inspire and kickstart an anti-hubris culture that encourages transparency, constructive feedback, openness, humility, and diversity.

Source: Step Change